Sununu Brothers Push New Hampshire GOP Toward Post-Trump Era

“This election is about the future. Not next year. But the next six years.”

That was John E. Sununu’s stark frame on a debate stage weeks before midterm ballots were even tallied, bostonglobe.com reported. The Trump-endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate ultimately lost to Democratic U.S. Representative Chris Pappas, but his campaign served as an early indicator that parts of the Granite State GOP are eager to look past Donald Trump.

Even before those November 2026 votes were cast and counted, New Hampshire Republicans showed clear signs of restlessness regarding the party’s future. Sununu’s public distancing from the former president—including an October ad stating he had never even met the man—marked a distinct departure from traditional primary playbooks.

Dante Scala, watching the dynamics unfold, noted that Sununu’s closing debate remarks struck him as remarkably frank for a Republican nominee closing in on Election Day. Scala suggested viewing 2026 as the second chapter of an ongoing effort by John E. Sununu and his brother, Chris Sununu, to push the state party into a post-Trump era.

Worth thinking of @SununuSenator campaign as second chapter in effort by both brothers (and @AFPAction ) to move GOP past Trump. First chapter: Sununus ally with @AFPAction in '24 to back Nikki Haley. Third chapter: 2028 New Hampshire presidential primary? https://t.co/2MBCLx5Xp1

— Post by @Graniteprof on X

The first chapter came when the brothers backed Nikki Haley in the 2024 presidential primary. The third, Scala pointed out, will be whatever path they chart for the 2028 cycle.

That upcoming cycle is already colliding with structural hurdles. Although the Republican National Committee has affirmed New Hampshire’s traditional first-in-the-nation role for 2028, the Democratic National Committee has chosen South Carolina to vote first.

closing remarks

That choice leaves New Hampshire Democrats in a procedural jam. A longstanding state law requires the state-run primary to be held at least a week before any similar contest elsewhere.

The DNC has threatened sanctions against anyone defying the party-approved calendar. Raymond Buckley, chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, brushed off immediate calendar questions on a Friday interview, telling bostonglobe.com that the party has been entirely focused on the midterms and that the ballots are not even cold yet.

Americans for Prosperity, the libertarian conservative advocacy group founded by billionaire brothers Charles Koch and the late David Koch, spent heavily to support Sununu's 2026 run after providing extensive ground support to Haley's 2024 effort.

Turning Point USA’s political action arm also made a heavy splash backing Sununu, deploying door-knocking ballot chasers and stationing volunteers at polling sites. Scala observed that while the high-spending operation may not have yielded an immediate payoff, it looked very much like a trial run to cement a permanent foothold in New Hampshire’s conservative infrastructure.

Chris Sununu argued that the party’s troubles go far beyond regional field operations. Republicans suffered at the ballot box because of flawed messaging, tone, and a failure to deliver on 2024 promises to champion the working class and avoid new foreign conflicts.

“They knocked on half a million doors here and I could argue got virtually zero results for it,” Chris Sununu told bostonglobe.com on Friday, emphasizing that the shortfall was not due to a lack of physical work.

While he insisted he will not run for office in 2028, Chris Sununu made it clear he intends to help future presidential contenders manage the notoriously idiosyncratic terrain of New Hampshire retail politics.

Early University of New Hampshire Survey Center data from July points to Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as early favorites on the GOP side, while U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former U.S. transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg top the early Democratic lists.

Whether national candidates will brave DNC calendar penalties to court Granite State voters remains an open question as the 2028 horizon comes into view.

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